New world: Flexi-phones like this prototype can be worn on your wrist (PIcture: Samsung)

Screens that can be bended, folded, rolled and worn could pave the way for a new smartphone era.

Imagine a smartphone that could be worn as a bracelet, bent or unfurled at whim and tucked into the back pocket of your jeans without risk of cracking when you sat down. This is the brave new world of flexible smartphone technology and the first of its type could be on our wrists next year.

‘Flexible displays are one of the top candidates that will take mobile phones to the next level,’ says Gareth Beavis of gadget website Tech Radar. ‘Bendable and less fragile than current options mean we’ll move away from the same black rectangle with rounded corners design that plagues the industry.’

The technology turns mobiles into razor-thin sheets of rollable electronic paper and makes them less susceptible to damage because the screens are made of durable plastic and not glass.
Nokia, Sony and LG are among those who have been working on this for years, although Samsung is expected to beat them to the punch by launching an OLED (organic light emitting diode) screened flexi-phone early next year.

The word from a Samsung spokesman is that the screens will be ‘foldable, rollable, wearable and will allow for a high degree of durability through their use of a plastic substrate that is thinner, lighter and more flexible than conventional LCD technology’.

Bendiness comes at a price, though. Flexible displays already exist in devices such as the Amazon Kindle, but they have cheaper, rigid components behind them to keep costs down.
Meanwhile, concept flexi-phones shown off at previous gadget shows have been no more than expensive vanity projects.

‘We probably won’t see HD flexible displays to rival the likes of the Galaxy S3 or the iPhone 5 any time soon,’ says Beavis.

‘Inherent problems in the manufacturing process mean that while the technology has been around for more than a decade, it still hasn’t reached the point where consumers can buy it. Samsung claims to have solved the issue – and has been one of the most vigorous in its efforts to commercialise the technology – but it could be taking a hit on its profits to be first to market.’

If manufacturing issues can be solved, however, Beavis believes we’re almost certainly on the cusp of a Next Big Thing. And Chris Mills, from Gizmodo UK, agrees.

‘It’s heartening to see that Samsung isn’t being squashed by Apple’s pace of innovation but rather is looking to make flexible phones a reality,’ he says. ‘An actual device we can bend and squash into our skinny jeans would be a definite game-changer for the industry.’

A short history of bendy screens

2005: Philips demonstrates the first prototype of a rollable display

2007: Amazon’s first Kindle features E-Ink electronic paper

2007: Sony shows off a bendable colour OLED display just 0.3mm thick

2009: Orkin Design’s concept laptop promised a 17inch OLED display you could roll like a yoga mat
(below)
2011: Nokia’s Kinetic Device also uses bending and twisting to control it